MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. – A paraplegic who drove his motorized wheelchair into a robbery at a Space Coast CU branch here last November, then hid the stolen cash in his prosthetic leg, was sentenced yesterday to 34 months in jail and barred for life from the credit union’s offices.
The state judge refused to grant Christopher Reed leniency, telling the 48-year-old after he pleaded guilty that robbing the credit union and threatening to blow it up are both serious offenses.
The paraplegic drove his wheelchair into the credit union and with a black stick and a lighter in his hand he told the teller he wanted $40,000 or he was going to blow the branch up.
Reed was caught just down the street, where police found $1,300 of the credit union’s cash hidden inside his prosthetic leg.
Reed lost the use of both of his legs in 1986 from a gunshot wound. One of his legs was amputated just five months before the robbery. His attorney argued he was on anti-depressants and pain medication at the time.
